Shall We Play a Game?
by KarmaHope
Summary: The OcuNerve Rift is newest in a long line of gaming consoles. With the new full-immersion MMORPG, not only can you play the game- you practically LIVE the game, and Ed and Al Elric are two of the first in line. Within the game, they make friends, alliances, enemies... but then again, these games don't have a history of being fine and dandy, do they? An SAO/Half-Prince AU of sorts.
1. Stage 1

**Shall We Play a Game?**  
 **Stage 1**  
KarmaHope

* * *

"Ooww," Edward Elric groaned, "my butt hurts. What time is it, Al?"

His ever-suffering younger brother pulled out his phone to check the time. "It's seven forty-five."

"Uhg. _Finally._ We've been sitting here for _hours_ ," Ed complained loudly. He stood unsteadily, his joints stiff with cold after hours of sitting outside their local videogame store. He stretched as he regained his footing, eliciting dozens of cracks from various locations in his body.

"It'll be worth it though, right, Brother?" Alphonse said, watching his older sibling. He had been standing for a while now, shifting between feet at his place in the line.

"Of course it will!" Ed exclaimed. "This is the _OcuNerve Rift_ we're talking about! The latest and greatest in all gaming technology! _And_ it's coming pre-packaged with AltEARTH! Everyone who's _anyone_ will be getting this game today."

"I'm just glad I don't have any classes until this afternoon," Al said gratefully. "I'm _exhausted_."

Edward snorted. "That's just 'cause you're lame and wouldn't sleep."

" _Couldn't_ sleep," his brother corrected.

"Well, here's your number one tip about college, Al: you learn how to sleep anywhere and everywhere."

The two boys attended Central City University, Edward as a sophomore and Al as a freshman with incoming dual enrollment credit. School had been in session for a few weeks now, but both Ed and Al had decided months before that they were going to do the hardcore gamer thing and line up hours before the release of the _OcuNerve Rift_ and AltEARTH. They were both longtime RPGers, and so the opportunity was one they couldn't pass up.

They had lined up at midnight for the game's release at eight o'clock that morning, but they were far from being the first in line. Edward didn't even want to think about how long the people in the front of the line had been standing there. Eight hours alone had done murder to his back – he admired their dedication, but at the same time thought it to be rather lame.

Who would go through that much trouble for a video game?

Yes, he knew he was being hypocritical.

The line around them began shifting anxiously as seven forty-five drew closer and closer to eight. If he hadn't already stood, Ed would certainly have to do so now in order to avoid being trampled underfoot. The hushed murmurs that had silenced during the night began picking up volume again, and he could feel his own heart beating in anticipation. Oh, how long he had waited for this!

The tentative release year _OcuNerve Rift_ had been announced two years prior, when he was still a senior in high school. The actual date had been disclosed earlier this year, fully bringing home the fact that it was actually happening. He was so excited.

The future was an amazing thing.

"Look, look!" Al said, grabbing his attention, "They're opening the doors!"

And then everything was thrown into absolute chaos.

There was pushing and shoving as people surged forward, and Ed grabbed his brother's hand so as not to get separated. At the same time, he grabbed the frames of the glasses he wore so that there was no chance he could lose them in the crowd. The damn things were annoying, but he couldn't see without them.

It seemed like hours before they at last stood directly before the doors of the shop, but in reality was probably only about half that. Eager to see inside, Ed jumped on his tiptoes, cursing his height – or lack thereof. He still couldn't see over the rest of the people in the store.

"Brother, look out," Al said, tugging at his sleeve. Edward looked over just a moment too late as someone carrying a _Rift_ box accidentally slammed into his shoulder. He jumped out of the way quickly, rubbing at the surely forming bruise, to let the person pass.

"Sorry!" the person – the _girl_ mumbled as she passed by.

"It's fine," Edward muttered back. He got a brief glimpse of blonde hair as she walked away, followed by another dark-skinned girl that he assumed to be her friend, and then he was shoved forward into the festering claustrophobia of the shop.

"Aaah," Al screamed quietly, unable to contain himself, "We're almost there! I'm so excited!"

The line snaked through the shop, until at last they were next. Edward couldn't keep the grin off his face as he paid out the ass for their consoles; Alphonse would pay him back later, they'd decided. They walked out of the store with pride, past the line that still stretched on forever, and back to the car that they had parked hours beforehand.

It was only then that Edward checked the time once again.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, slamming the trunk of the car closed. "It's nine o'clock already – I've got to get to my nine-thirty still!"

"Give me the keys, Brother," Al said. "I'll drop you off at the university, then I'll take these home."

"Thanks Al," Edward said. "You're a lifesaver. Actually, no. More than that. A grade-saver. But promise me you won't log on until we're both home this afternoon, okay?"

Alphonse simply laughed. "The only thing I'm doing between the time I get back and the time I have to leave for class is sleeping, you can trust me on that one."

Edward thanked his lucky stars that it was a Friday night that night – it meant that all homework could be put on hold for at least a day, and he could log into AltEARTH as soon as he and Al got home. The two boys got out of class at about the same time on Friday, so one would always wait for the other so that they could walk back to their off-campus apartment together.

They had been on their own for a few years now – when their mother died a few years back, Ed was nearly eighteen, and so with their father missing, he had been emancipated and given custody of his younger brother. Neither had seen any reason to pay ridiculous amounts of money for on-campus housing, and so they had simply sold their old place and gotten a small apartment within walking distance of Central City University. They'd been there for almost a year and a half now, and it was working well for them.

Neither of them had to speak as soon as they stepped inside their apartment that afternoon, closing the door behind them. They just _knew_. Both dashed to their _Rift_ boxes, and Ed was dismayed to see that Al's was open already. "You _promised!_ " he accused.

"I didn't actually play it!" Al yelped. "I just installed the software! I did it on yours, too!"

Upon second glance, Ed saw that his box, too, had been opened. "Sorry, Al," he apologized sheepishly. Al just shrugged.

"It's okay. Here," he said, passing his brother a thick booklet, "here's the manual. I read over it a bit earlier – there's some really helpful information in there."

Ed took it from his brother's hand and skimmed through the first few pages on character design. It all looked pretty simple – after all, with yourself as the controller, it had to all be pretty intuitive. He cast it aside. "I'll figure the rest of it out as I go. Is there anything super important I should know?"

"If you give it your phone number when it asks for it, it'll sync up your contacts and give you the opportunity to send friend requests to any of your contacts who have done the same. It's the only way we'll be able to find each other initially."

"All right, good to know. You ready?" he asked as he grabbed the headgear that was the core of the _OcuNerve Rift_ and plugged it into his laptop. AltEARTH may have been installed straight to the _Rift_ , but it needed the connection with the computer in order to access the internet. It was a bug that the designers were still trying to work out, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter much. One didn't move while in-game, so the tether didn't hinder anything.

"Am I ever," Al said, plugging his own in and settling the helmet-like console over his head. "Let's go."

Edward flipped the visor down, and he was lost to a whole new world.

* * *

 **:/game_login**

 **:/initiating_registration**

 **:/enter_fullname: _**

Edward reeled as the words flashed before him. He had heard that the _Rift_ tapped into the brainwaves themselves, but he was entirely unprepared for the total lack of _anything_ screenlike. It was as if he was actually floating in the middle of a white void with nothing but the black characters hovering before him. There were no keyboards, no nothing, so he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Edward Elric," he announced to the void, and watched in fascination as the characters filled in the space.

 **:/user_fullname: EDWARD_ELRIC_  
**

… **SPELLED CORRECTLY? … YES … NO …**

"Yes," Ed confirmed.

 **:/enter_birthdate: _**

He listed off his birthdate, and once again confirmed the information was correct. When it prompted him for his phone number, he gave it as Al had instructed him to do. He gave his email address too, because why not? They already had his phone number.

 **... WELCOME TO AltEARTH …**

 **:/initiating_charactercreation**

To his right, a giant pair of double doors materialized and creaked open. As it was the only thing that had changed in this blank equivalent of a loading screen, Ed figured he had to go through them. To his surprise, he found that he could walk normally, despite there being no floor beneath him. As he passed through the doors, they closed behind him with an ominous bang.

He was still surrounded by strange white void, but now the outline of a person stared back at him. As he watched, it filled in until he was looking at a reflection of himself: bad haircut, dorky glasses, cowlick, and all.

"You're me," he said dumbly.

" _Indeed I am,"_ the copy of him said, its voice resonating eerily in the space. _"Multiple tests with multiple beta groups proved that players identify more strongly with an avatar that looks like them; however, you may change your appearance at will. Choose wisely, for you only get to create your character once."_

He knew this – he and Al had spent many a night in the days leading up to the game's release discussing character appearances. They knew they still wanted to look like brothers while they were in-game. Taking a deep breath, Ed surveyed himself.

"Get rid of the glasses," he said, and the offending frames disappeared. "Hmm … I'd like my hair to be longer, down to my back, with bangs down to my chin." He watched the changes eagerly – it wasn't every day one got to see himself change before his eyes. _There_. When he tied his hair up, it would look _awesome_.

" _Are you satisfied with your character?"_ the man that wasn't him asked.

He shook his head. "I'd also like to be taller ... let's make it five foot seven." He knew how much teasing he would receive from Alphonse if he was suddenly six feet tall in-game, but five foot seven was a hell of a lot better that his real-life five foot five.

" _Are you satisfied with your character?"_ his lips asked.

"Hmm …" he mused. "I'd like to be a little more buff," – because who wouldn't – "and I want my eyes to be gold. Like, actually gold." They were a honey amber in real life, so why not up the ante a bit?

" _Are you satisfied with your character?"_ He paused, surveying the man before him that still looked like him, but like a new and improved version of him.

"Make my hair a little more golden," he said, his naturally more dirty-blonde color looking out-of-place with his character's golden eyes. The adjusted color, while not as bright as his eyes, fit much better. "And … uhh … hmm. I'd like a stronger nose."

It was an odd thing to ask for, and who knew what the hell that even meant, but the game being tied in with his brainwaves meant that he got exactly what he was imagining.

" _Are you satisfied with your character?"_

God, that was getting annoying. "Yeah, I think so," he said. Just too late, he realized that he hadn't fixed his ever-present cowlick. "Hey, wait!"

 **:/character_confirmed**

"Hey!"

 **:/uploading_memorydata**

Slowly, the figure before him faded away. Seconds later, Ed felt the tickle of something at his neck. Reaching for it automatically, his fingers met strands of golden hair. His real-life form was gone, replaced by the one he had tailored himself. It was a strange thing to wrap his head around.

" _Have you chosen a class for your character?"_ The outline before him was once again simply that – an outline – and it freaked him out even more than seeing his own face had. The resonance of its voice didn't help matters, either.

"Yes," Ed stated confidently. "I want to be an Alchemist." This was another thing he and Al had talked about in length. Seeing as he was a chemistry major, alchemy simply made the most sense. Besides, as he had said: it was goddamn cool.

 **:/characterclass_alchemist**

 **:/enter_charactername: _  
**

Edward grinned. He had known this one for years. Of course he would use the same name he had chosen for his very first MMORPG back in middle school – it was the one he had used ever since.

 **:/user_charactername: FULLMETAL_  
**

… **SPELLED CORRECTLY? … YES … NO …**

Hell yeah. He was going to be the Fullmetal Alchemist!

It didn't get much more badass than that.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _So ... hi. It's me. I should be working on a billion other things, namely my Soul Eater Resbang fic and_ Rewriting Fiction _, but I read this one fic last night last night and was inspired to write this AU for FMA. I honestly don't know where it's going to go yet, tbh. There isn't going to be any set update schedule for this._

 _In case you're curious, work on_ Rewriting Fiction _is going slower than I'd like, but I've gotten a couple chapters done since I've been on hiatus._

 _The next chapter for this should be up fairly soon. I'm in the middle of writing it right now. I'm going to keep the chapters short, so I can update more frequently, hopefully. I banged the entirety of this one out last night in a fit of inspiration._

 _As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!_


	2. Stage 2

**Shall We Play a Game?  
** **Stage 2  
** KarmaHope

* * *

 **:/initializinglocation_central**

 **:/loading_maps**

 **:/loading_npcs**

… **98% … 99% … 100% LOADED …**

… **WELCOME TO AltEARTH …**

Edward came to with a groan, his memory fuzzy. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was stepping through those weird double doors once again.

He forced himself to sit, pushing himself up from where he lay face-flat in a bed of soft grass. Wait, grass? He pushed strands of unruly golden hair away from his face as he squinted into warm sunlight. Indeed, he was sitting in a field of some sort. And if he was sitting in a field …

He was in the game! He was actually playing AltEARTH!

It was all he could do not to yelp with excitement as he leapt to his feet. It took him just a second to gain his balance, and then he spent several moments just staring at his surroundings in amazement. These graphics were stellar! He could see individual leaves on each tree, moving independently of each other and casting individual shadows. If it weren't for the tiny _MENU_ floating at the bottom right corner of his vision, he could almost believe this was real life.

And that was the moment he realized the exact reason the word floated there. It would be so easy to get lost in this world; to think it was reality; to forget to log out.

He took a moment to cast an eye over himself as well. He was dressed in a simple white tunic and brown pants, with soft cloth shoes protecting his feet. Ed wrinkled his nose. Beginner outfits were always the worst part about starting a new RPG game. They offered no protection, no power boosts, and they were ugly as all get-out.

He wasn't sure what to do from here, so he fell back on years of experience. The first thing he would do was open the menu, but there was no button to press. Instead, the most intuitive method of executing the command would be … "Open menu."

The menu opened before him, the display hovering midair. It broke every law of physics, but then again, physics didn't really need to apply here, did it? He skimmed over the options, settling on the one that read **Contacts**. Cautiously, he reached out and poked at it with his finger. To his utmost surprise, the hologram resisted his touch.

 **Contacts** led him to another menu that held the options **Friend List** and **Add Friends**. When he pressed **Add Friends** , it asked him if he wanted to find friends using the phone number he had entered. He agreed, and quickly found Alphonse and a couple other people he knew from school. Sending a quick 'whisper-message' to his brother – which involved literally whispering it under his breath – his next order of business was to get out of this damn field. As a spawn point, there was nothing that would kill him, but there was also nothing to do here, either.

In the main menu, there was a **Map** option, which he opened. Surveying the map, turning a bit to orient himself, he was pleased to note that he wasn't far from the outskirts of Central Town. The open menu turned with him, which was super cool. Closing both the map and the menu, he took off toward the town.

He met Alphonse at the town center. His younger brother was dressed similarly to how he was, the only differences being his shirt was a light blue and he had a rudimentary sword belted to his hip. Because they'd agreed to keep their appearances similar to real life, it was easy to pick him out. Of course, even if they hadn't looked similar, Ed would have recognized his username anywhere.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as he jogged up. "So, ShiningArmor again, huh?"

Al grinned. His first username ever had been KnightInShiningArmor, which had been shortened to ShiningArmor in subsequent RPG games. "I don't know if you're one to be talking, Fullmetal." He cast a critical eye over his brother, and his grin widened. "You _did_ make yourself taller!" he crowed, "I knew you would!"

"So you went and made yourself taller, too," Ed grumbled. "I see that."

But Alphonse had not added quite as much height as Edward had, and so they were just about as tall as each other. Al had kept his hair fairly short, at least compared to Ed. It was shorter on the sides but longer on top, just enough that it fell over his forehead without hindering his eyesight. He too had made his hair and eyes more golden than they were in real life, though like in real life, they were still darker than Ed's. The only other differences Ed could note were that he had filled himself out a bit as well, and that his cheekbones were slightly more defined.

"And you still have that cowlick of yours!"

"I forgot to change it, all right?"

Alphonse laughed. "Come on, Brother. Let's go grind some levels like the noobs we are."

It was then that Ed realized he had forgotten one crucial step in the 'New RPG' process. He hadn't checked to see what sort of starter weapon he had been given. He quickly opened his menu as Al watched on in amusement. There – **Inventory**. He opened it, and found … "a knife? Okay, I can work with that."

As an Alchemist, he would be focusing on boosting his Mana Points in order to make himself stronger. The weapon was only a backup until then, or if he tired out.

He grabbed the knife and closed his inventory. "All right," he said. "Let's go, Armorboy."

As they wandered through the town, Ed was once again fascinated by his surroundings. The game was set in a medieval fantasy land, so all the buildings were either wood or stone. Some had thatched roofs, while others were more sturdily built. NPCs waved at them happily, which they returned even if they were NPCs. Other players roamed the streets as well, whom they greeted in passing as well. It was evident that some people had started playing as soon as they had gotten home from the store, as those characters were already clothed much more nicely than they themselves were.

"It's weird to think that these people are all probably from around Central," Al said. "That doesn't usually happen in an MMO."

Indeed, that was one of the revolutionary things about AltEARTH. They called it the _GeoLocation_ feature – each in-game town reflected a town or city from real life. The town that someone spawned in for the first time depended on where a player was in real life when he or she registered. While not every town had an AltEARTH twin, the creators boasted that there was a map of towns that covered the entire _world_ , and that each person would be placed in a town closest to their true location. What more, the towns in the Amestrian part of the world looked different than those in the Xingese part, which were different from the area that would be Drachma.

That's what truly made AltEARTH an 'Alternate Earth.'

"No, it doesn't," Ed agreed. "But hey – maybe we'll make some new friends! That would be good, right?"

"And maybe I'll finally get a _girlfriend_ ," Al swooned. Ed rolled his eyes and cuffed his brother over the head as Al laughed.

"Get your head out of the clouds. Look over there!" They were leaving the buildings of Central Town behind now, and there on the outskirts were every RPGer's first test. It seemed that some things never changed, even if technology did.

"Ooh!" Al exclaimed as he drew his sword, "Slimes!"

Ed's hand tightened around his knife. He was inexplicably nervous. He'd fought thousands of Slimes in his lifetime … but back then, it had all come down to how fast he could click a button or form keystroke combinations. Now, _he_ was actually going to be doing the fighting.

Awesome.

"Yaaahrg!" Al yelled, rushing forward with his sword raised. That caught the attention of the slimes surrounding them – a total of three in all. Ed watched for just a second as Al began hacking away at one of them, his dull sword cutting through the Slime's gelatinous body. The hit damage rose above the combatants' heads like it always had in the other RPGs that they had played, only this time in eerie 3D.

Ed wasted no more time, rushing into battle with a second Slime. Like Al, he fought with little finesse, stabbing and slashing with the knife and occasionally dancing backward as the Slime rushed forward in an attack. As a Level 1 player, he did not yet have the skill points needed to develop his alchemy, so the knife was his only option. The Slime's HP bar floated in the upper right corner of his vision, and he watched it fall with each blow he dealt.

Damn, was he actually starting to breathe heavily? This game forgot nothing, it seemed. Unfortunately, that included the way that long hair got in one's face when it wasn't tied back properly. He leapt away from another attack just in time – it actually _hurt_ when the Slime hit him. Granted, it was more of a sting, but still.

At last, he dealt the final blow. The Slime – green and gelatinous and all-around generally disgusting with weird stalk eyes – exploded, smattering him with gooey ick. He and Al took the last Slime together, and despite both of them being Level 1, it stood no chance. The two brothers, both covered head-to-toe in Slime goo, grinned at each other.

"The drops!" they both exclaimed at the same time.

The next few seconds were spent hastily gathering the items and gold that the Slimes had dropped. The gold, thankfully, was not covered in Slime remnants. When Edward turned, however, he laughed at the expression on Alphonse's face.

"A Slimey Staff?" Al questioned, holding up the offending item. "Ew, gross. I'm definitely going to sell this when we get back to town."

Ed laughed as he opened his menu to check his stats. It didn't take him long to discover that he could keep his stats in his line of sight, similar to a Heads-Up Display. He had lost a few hit points in the scuffle, but they were slowly replenishing the longer they stood around. "Come on," he said, wiping slime off his face. "That's only the beginning."

 **:/partyinvite_shiningarmor**

 **… ACCEPT PARTY INVITE? … YES … NO …**

Edward accepted immediately. "Good idea, Al. I should have thought of it sooner, but I was super distracted."

"I was too," Al said. "Now … how about we grind some Slimes?"

Ed grinned. The Slimes had respawned, crawling out from the tree line like depraved translucent slugs. "Yeah," he said, receiving an alert that ShiningArmor had changed the party settings to evenly distribute all drops and gold. "Let's salt these bastards."

And so they did. For hours, they fought Slime after Slime, until one might think they had taken a bath in Slime goo. When they hit Level 3, they moved on to the Rats that lived outside the town. Then they tackled the Rats of Unusual Size. When at last they stumbled back into Central Town as Level 10s, they hosed themselves off at the spigots on the outskirts of town, likely placed there for that exact purpose.

They made a beeline for the nearest trader's post as soon as they were dry, which didn't take long in the warm afternoon sunlight. There, they traded their numerous Slimey Staffs and other Slime- and Rat-related drops for gold, which they then used to buy their first armor.

It was nothing special – it was leather armor that covered the shoulders, chest, and back. Edward splurged for a good pair of boots and a hair tie, while Alphonse decided to buy a less-expensive pair of shoes and begin saving for a sharper sword. As they walked out of the shop, Ed finally managed to get his hair up off of his neck and out of his face.

"Well," he said as they stood by the fountain in the middle of the square, "What now?"

"Well, we fought the Slimes and Rats for about four hours game-time, so we've only actually been playing for about two. I say we go a little further out now that we have our new gear – I want to try my new skills, too!"

Ed grinned. Now that he'd leveled up, he could actually start using rudimentary alchemy, and it was something he was eager to try as well. Al would be getting no complaints from him – it wasn't like they had any pressing commitments back in the real world. "You wanna try actually taking a quest?" he asked his brother, pointing to where people were gathered around a bulletin posted outside the inn.

"A quest? Yeah, let's do it!"

The two ran over to the billboard, joining the throngs of people around it. "Excuse us!" Ed said, "Can we get though?"

No one listened, as everyone was trying to get close enough to read the board. Impatient, Ed began shoving his way through as Al hung back. One man cursed when Ed accidentally elbowed him in the stomach.

"Hey!" he said sharply, "Watch it!"

Edward barely glanced at him. "Watch it yourself," he shot back. At last, he got close enough to the board to read the postings. He quickly found one meant for a Level 11, but he took it anyway without reading it. He could check the details in his menu as soon as he escaped this madhouse.

Getting out was even harder than getting in, and he stepped on quite a few feet in his haste. His hair got caught and tugged, and he winced in pain. It was a relief when he finally got back to Al, to say the least.

"So?" Al asked eagerly scrolling through his menu to the **Quests** tab, "What's our mission?"

Ed opened his menu and finally read the details of the quest he had picked. At last, he said one word:

"Wolves."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _This is quickly becoming an exercise in 'how many RPG cliches can I write in one fic?' Sorry it's starting so slowly, but I'm a huge fan of worldbuilding. Like, how does this game work? What are its features? What would it actually be like?_

 _Seriously, thank you to those of you who reviewed. It really means a lot._

 _Winry will be introduced in the next chapter!_

 **Edit 11/1/2015:** They reached Level 10 in four hours instead of Level 3. They also fought Rats and Rats of Unusual Size in addition to Slimes. I realized Level 10 was more reasonable when I made a new character on the one online RPG I play and leveled up to Level 2 in like, ten seconds.


	3. Stage 3

**Shall We Play a Game?  
** **Stage 3  
** KarmaHope

* * *

It was a rookie mistake.

So perhaps she would feel better about being chased through the woods by a Wolf nine levels higher than she if she were _actually_ a rookie.

Winry Rockbell panted heavily, trying to draw enough air into her lungs to keep her on her feet as she crashed through trees and undergrowth. Her hair caught on a particularly pesky branch, yanking painfully at her scalp as she kept running. She had only been playing this game for two hours at most, and already she was cursing the creators for their need to make it _so_ realistic.

And also her best friend, for leaving her stranded high and dry.

"Dammit Paninya," she muttered as she dodged yet another tree branch. "'We should split up,' you said. 'It can't be that hard,' you said." She took another deep breath. "Well this is what happens!"

If she were in a clearer state of mind, she would realize that perhaps she was being too hard on her friend. After all, isn't that what they usually did? They would form a party, then she would go one way while Paninya went another, scouting out the area and the mobs and the best place to start. It's how they'd always done it, and they'd been playing together for years.

But AltEARTH was on an entirely different level altogether. Winry had been entirely unprepared for what 'full-immersion' actually meant – she could even _smell_ the scent of nature. Having lived in the city almost all her life, the very lack of urbanization she had encountered so far was overwhelming. Because of this, she had been paying more attention to the scenery around her than she had potential mobs.

A rookie mistake.

Sure, she had passed the ubiquitous Slimes. Disgusting things they were, too. She didn't like actually fighting the things, but at least she'd been given a staff as a starter weapon so she didn't need to get too close and personal with them.

She had also seen a few Rats skulking about that were of a slightly higher level than the Slimes. Even if she hadn't had prior experience or checked their stats, the very fact that they had _skeletons_ obviously granted them more strength than the Slimes had.

So she had killed a few Slimes and Rats, enough to level her up to a Four, but that hadn't been her main focus. The AltEARTH graphics were just so damn intricate and detailed and she was enjoying the sun on her face when a howl from the underbrush scared the hell out of her. Not three seconds later, a large, red-eyed Wolf leapt out at her, its jaws open wide, and she had begun running for her life.

Paninya was going to rail on her so hard when they next saw each other. How could she not have been paying attention? How had she not considered the fact that there were likely aggro mobs out here?

Of course, she thought she had a pretty good excuse and all, but … still. Rookie mistake.

"Whisper Cybergirl," she gasped between breaths. When the Whisper command popped up in the corner of her vision, she said frantically, "Paninya! I could really use some help! There's a Wolf chasing me and I'm not strong enough to fight it!"

It wasn't long until she received a response.

 **:/whisperfrom_cybergirl:** _Hang tight, Winry. I'll be there as soon as I can._

But it looked like 'as soon as I can' wouldn't be fast enough. One couldn't jump from one location to the other, at least not until the higher echelon levels. There may have been loads of devices to help facilitate travel, but they were all far too expensive for beginners to afford. No, it looked like she was stuck.

Dying shouldn't have mattered much; after all, she would only lose a level and respawn in the nearest town, namely Central Town. But she didn't _want_ to die – not from something as stupid as this. Plus there was the fact that dying still hurt like all hell, even if it was a videogame and the pain factor had been reduced by fifty percent.

So she made a decision. Even if this Wolf was a Level 12, and she was still a lowly Level 4, she was going to fight it. At least then she could say she tried.

With the Wolf's hot breath against the back of her neck, she summoned her staff. Gripping it firmly as it fell into her hands, she burst free of the forest and into an open field beyond. Running just a few more paces, she braced herself and threw her entire body into a baseball swing using her staff as the bat. She glimpsed the red of the beast's eyes as the thicker end of the wooden staff cracked into its skull.

But there was no reason to celebrate – she felt the reverberations of the impact all the way up her arms, and while she knocked a few points from its health bar, it was not enough to make a serious impact. Instead, she only succeeded in making it angrier. To make matters worse, her own health bar was already suffering due to her mad dash through the woods.

 _Interesting_ , she noted absently as she swung at the Wolf once again, _mobs aren't the only things that can affect our health_. Once again, she felt the shock from the blow all the way up her arms, and her HP bar dropped a couple more points. She needed to find a way to end this, and quickly.

 _Think smarter, not harder_. Her professor's words drifted back to her, and she felt a spark of an idea beginning to take form. AltEARTH was designed to be as realistic as a videogame could possibly be; therefore, wouldn't some spots on a mob be more vulnerable than others? She braced herself to take another swing, this time watching the beast in an attempt to locate its weak points.

As it bore down on her, red eyes glowing menacingly, she realized. The answer was quite literally staring her in the face. She knocked the beast away from her once again, and then adjusted both her stance and her grip on her staff. Now instead of the clubbed end on the offensive, she had the smaller, skinnier end pointed at the Wolf. If this failed, then she would accept her resulting death in peace.

She forced herself to keep her eyes on her opponent, despite her instinct to flinch away. When it was close enough, she stabbed forward with all her might. Her blow glanced off the creature's nose, deflecting straight into its right eye. The animal yelped, and Winry watched with a sense of sick satisfaction at the large number of hit points that rose above its head as its remaining health dropped by slightly less than half. As much as she was exhausted, she had the thought that maybe she could defeat this thing.

The large Wolf stumbled, pawing at the bleeding socket where its eye used to be. Winry nearly puked at the sight – raised as the daughter of two physicians, causing others harm was not something she enjoyed. In other RPG games, the cartoonified violence made everything easier; made it more like a game.

Right now, AltEARTH did not feel like a game.

She shoved up the sleeves of the loose tunic she wore and tucked a short strand of hair behind her ear. "All right, Wolf," she said, gripping her staff once more. "Give me all you got."

The Wolf growled and sprang at her, but with one of its eyes missing, its depth perception was off. Winry stepped to the side and whacked its skull with the blunt end of her staff, sending it reeling. It leapt at her again, and again, and again …

It got past her defenses a couple times, as she was in no way a skilled fighter. A claw gouged into her cheek and jaws clamped around her leg both elicited a screams. Even with fifty percent reduced pain levels, it still hurt like hell.

She knew she had to end this, one way or another. Despite the pain that lanced through her cheek with every moment and up her left leg with each step, she began setting herself up to stab out its other eye. It was the only way she would have a chance. Her health points were still ticking away, and she was at less than a quarter of a full bar now.

Winry flipped the staff in her hands. The Wolf rushed her, and an odd sense of calm fell over her as she lined up the shot.

"Brother! Over here!"

The shout broke her concentration, and she screamed as the Wolf tore through her tunic to scratch five parallel lines on her side. She lashed out wildly with her foot, hitting the creature only due to pure dumb luck.

"She needs help!"

Oh, no. She would not have this victory taken from her now. Even with her breathing labored and her vision darkening and her body in a constant state of pain, she had come too far to let another claim the kill.

"Don't – you – DARE!" she screeched, smashing the thicker end of her staff down over the Wolf's head. She didn't give it time to recover before she hit it again … and again … and again …

She was barely aware that on her last strike her staff met resistance, and then plunged straight through nothingness. Defeated, the Wolf dissolved.

 **:/gearhead_levelup**

Along with her consciousness.

When she came around, it was to the murmur of unfamiliar voices. She blinked groggily, trying to reorient herself as the voices spoke above her.

"– Can't believe she killed that thing," one person said in an obviously masculine tone. "She was only a Level 4!"

Another, closer voice snorted. "Well, she's still kind of an idiot," the other man said, "wandering out so far when she was only a Level 4."

"Hey," she snapped, still slightly woozy. "It was an accident. No one asked for your help," she grumbled.

"Oh, you're awake!" the first guy said, dropping to crouch beside her. "How are you feeling? You were in pretty bad shape … Brother and I patched you up with the few supplies we had, but now that you're awake you should drink a health potion. Then you'll be good as new!"

"I know how health potions work," she said irritably as she looked up into amber eyes. Squinting, she read the name that floated above his head in green. _ShiningArmor_. Grinning, he offered her a hand.

Winry smiled weakly. "Sorry," she said sheepishly as she took his hand and allowed him to pull her to a seated position. "I'm still a little mad at myself for getting myself into that mess in the first place. This isn't my first time playing, I swear!" She paused for a moment. "Okay, it's my first time playing AltEARTH, but isn't it everybody's?"

The voice behind her laughed. "I'll give you that one," he said, "but every player knows not to attack something that's eight levels higher than him … or her," he amended, as if it were an afterthought.

Enraged, Winry whirled on him. "I'll have you know that _I_ did not attack _it_. _It_ was a damn aggro, and _it_ leapt out at _me_ and chased me for a good while, and would have killed me! I'm not an idiot, _idiot_!" This time, her eyes met startling gold ones set in a stubborn face. Her gaze flicked to his username. _Fullmetal_.

 _Well, it suits him_ , she thought wryly.

She blinked, suddenly noticing the Whisper notification that had popped up in the corner of her vision. Silently commanding it to open, she saw that it was from Paninya.

 **:/whisperfrom_cybergirl:** _Are you okay? You stopped moving on my map._

Shit, how long ago had she sent that? And could Winry Whisper her back without making herself look even more like an idiot in front of ShiningArmor and Fullmetal? She decided it was worth it to try, and was pleased to find she could compose Whisper messages silently.

 _I'm fine. I killed the thing, and I'm not in any danger. A couple other players found me – I'll stay here until you get here._

"Uhm … Gearhead? Are you there?"

The long-haired boy before her waved his arm in front of her face, and she brushed it away. "I was sending a Whisper to my friend," she explained. "She was worried."

 **:/whisperfrom_cybergirl:** _That's good. I'm almost there._

"Oh, right," he said awkwardly. "Well, uhm. I guess we haven't actually introduced ourselves. I'm Fullmetal, and ShiningArmor there is my brother – you can just call him Armorboy, though. That's what I always do."

Winry smiled. "You know I can read your usernames above your heads, right? And you can read mine?" She giggled at his apparent embarrassment and stuck out her hand. "I'm Gearhead," she said. Her grin widened as Fullmetal took her hand and they shook on it.

 **:/addfriend_shiningarmor**

… **ACCEPT FRIEND INVITE? … YES … NO …**

She turned and looked at him curiously even as she accepted the invite. He shrugged. "You seem nice enough," he said, "and heck – you just took down that Wolf _single-handedly_ as a Level 4! Maybe we can all play together sometime."

Winry considered it. "Sure, why not?" she said, sending a friend invite to Fullmetal. These two boys were the first players she had met other than Paninya, and they seemed 'nice enough' as well, if she disregarded the fact that Fullmetal seemed to have a tendency to be a bit of an ass at times.

Paninya ran into the clearing then, stopping short at the sight of her with the two boys. Grinning, Winry pushed herself to her feet. She had recovered most of her health points by now, so she wasn't nearly as weak as she thought she would be. "Cybergirl!" she cried, "Guess what? I actually killed that Wolf on my own!"

"Whoa, really?" Paninya asked, jogging lightly over to them. "Those things are like, Level 12! You mean they didn't help you at all?" she asked, gesturing to Fullmetal and ShiningArmor.

Winry shook her head. "Nope!" she said happily. "They helped me afterwards, though. I kind of passed out …" she laughed. "We were talking about maybe playing together sometime. What do you think?"

"Yeah, sure!" Paninya said. "Larger parties are always better, after all! You may have to wait a bit for us to catch up to you level-wise, though."

 **:/whisperfrom_cybergirl:** _How did you get so lucky? They're super hot!_

Winry inwardly rolled her eyes at Paninya's Whisper. _You mean their avatars are_ , she sent back. _And what do you care? It's not like you're interested._

"Cool!" ShiningArmor said, unaware of their private messaging. "Brother and I have a quest to complete now … do you want to help? It's more Wolves."

"Yeah," Fullmetal agreed. "You'd gain experience a lot faster from the higher-level mobs, but Armorboy and I would keep you from dying."

 **:/whisperfrom_cybergirl:** _No, but you might be._

"Shut up," Winry muttered aloud.

"What? What did I say?"

She turned to Fullmetal, who had spoken. "Oh," she said, "not you. Paninya and I were Whispering. Sure, we'd love to help!"

She and Paninya disbanded their party, and seconds later she received the invite from ShiningArmor.

 **:/partyinvite_shiningarmor**

… **ACCEPT PARTY INVITE? … YES … NO …**

She smiled as she selected 'Yes' without hesitation.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _I made a bit of an edit to the last chapter. Ed and Al got to Level 10 in the last chapter, not 3 like I originally stated. I made a new character on the one RPG I play, and made it to level 2 in like, 10 seconds. Everything else is basically the same, except they fought more things than just Slimes._

 _I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!_

 _As always, reviews are super appreciated._


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